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wisteriamoon's review against another edition
5.0
This was the first anthology on my TBR, back before I even knew what an anthology was, and I'm so glad that I finally got around to reading it. Nothing says "fall" to me quite like a cozy collection of short stories about villains. And I loved the study of villainy in this book, and how every author interpreted it so differently. There were shocking twists and stories of tragedy, and tales that unsettled me, and ones that were empowering, with everything in between. I loved diving deep into villainy and all of its aspects, how it is handled in media. I wished that there had been a bit more diversity, with maybe a few more disabled authors talking about how that relates to villainy in literature and how we can rise above stereotypes, and there were a few stories that didn't quite hit for me, but overall, this is an anthology full of amazing stories from some of my favorite authors-Marissa Meyer, Soman Chainani and Victoria Schwab to name a few-and truly was fascinating and tragic and beautiful.
quoting_ravens's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 maybe.
The breakdown:
-The Blood of Imuriv- ⭐️
A short story is simply not enough time to lay the groundwork for this tale. Lots of exposition-y dialogue.
-The Evil vaccine- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hilarious!
-Jack-⭐️⭐️
-Giants and Tyrants-⭐️
-Gwen and Art and Lance-⭐️
-The Bad Girl Hall of Fame-⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Shirley & Jim-⭐️
-Dear Sasha, The 411 for Villains-⭐️
-The Blessing of Little Wants-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Will the Real Villain Please Stand Up?-⭐️
-The Sea Witch-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Villain or Hero? You Decide-⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Beautiful Venom-⭐️
-Without the Evil in the World, How Do We See the Good?-⭐️
-Death Knell-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fabulous! Victoria Schwab is the the saving grace (lol) if this book.
-Dear Death-⭐️⭐️
-Marigold-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I really enjoyed the concept and the writing was great but the story kinda fell apart towards the end.
-Evil Revealed-⭐️⭐️⭐️
-You, You, It’s All About You-⭐️⭐️
The mask-hand thing was so gross and inconvenient, I couldn’t get passed it. Also, was there any point to the whole apartment fight?
-Behind the Villain’s Mask-⭐️
-Julian Breaks Every Rule-DNF
Main character was unbearably pretentious, I could not deal.
-Julian Powell: teen psycho extraordinaire-Skimmed. There isn’t much of a point in reading the review without reading the story.
-Indigo and Shade-⭐️
I’m choking on all this pretentious masculinity.
-Glamorized Recovery: Expectations vs Reality-⭐️⭐️
-Sera-⭐️⭐️⭐️
-The Bad Girls Guide to Villainy-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The breakdown:
-The Blood of Imuriv- ⭐️
A short story is simply not enough time to lay the groundwork for this tale. Lots of exposition-y dialogue.
-The Evil vaccine- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hilarious!
-Jack-⭐️⭐️
-Giants and Tyrants-⭐️
-Gwen and Art and Lance-⭐️
-The Bad Girl Hall of Fame-⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Shirley & Jim-⭐️
-Dear Sasha, The 411 for Villains-⭐️
-The Blessing of Little Wants-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Will the Real Villain Please Stand Up?-⭐️
-The Sea Witch-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Villain or Hero? You Decide-⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Beautiful Venom-⭐️
-Without the Evil in the World, How Do We See the Good?-⭐️
-Death Knell-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fabulous! Victoria Schwab is the the saving grace (lol) if this book.
-Dear Death-⭐️⭐️
-Marigold-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I really enjoyed the concept and the writing was great but the story kinda fell apart towards the end.
-Evil Revealed-⭐️⭐️⭐️
-You, You, It’s All About You-⭐️⭐️
The mask-hand thing was so gross and inconvenient, I couldn’t get passed it. Also, was there any point to the whole apartment fight?
-Behind the Villain’s Mask-⭐️
-Julian Breaks Every Rule-DNF
Main character was unbearably pretentious, I could not deal.
-Julian Powell: teen psycho extraordinaire-Skimmed. There isn’t much of a point in reading the review without reading the story.
-Indigo and Shade-⭐️
I’m choking on all this pretentious masculinity.
-Glamorized Recovery: Expectations vs Reality-⭐️⭐️
-Sera-⭐️⭐️⭐️
-The Bad Girls Guide to Villainy-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
secretdearest's review against another edition
3.0
Came out average.
The two stories that stood out to me were the one of the mermaid and the one of the Beast.
Liked it, did not love it.
I don't like masochism, AKA the villain.
Read this, because I'm open to another POV.
Skipped 3 stories, because no matter how hard I tried they just didn't do it for me.
The two stories that stood out to me were the one of the mermaid and the one of the Beast.
Liked it, did not love it.
I don't like masochism, AKA the villain.
Read this, because I'm open to another POV.
Skipped 3 stories, because no matter how hard I tried they just didn't do it for me.
worldsunlikeourown's review against another edition
3.0
I usually don't read books that are collections of unrelated stories because I prefer one continuous plot line, but seeing so many of my favourite authors listed, I simply had to give this a try. It is just so hard to rate books like these! Some stories I absolutely loved, others didn't make much sense and some were just...no. An interesting read, but a lot of it felt like fillers. Because You Love to Hate Me is a collection of stories about villains, and what made them become villains. To go into the stories I liked:
The Blood of Imuriv, Renee Ahdieh's story, was extremely unique. It's a pity that it's just a short story, because I would read a full length novel on this kind of plot.
Shirley and Jim (Susan Dennard) narrates the story of a young James Moriarty where both Sherlock Holmes and John Watson are female (Shirley and Jean). An interesting version of familiar characters.
Beautiful Venom (Cindy Pon) was a complete surprise. An Asian retelling of the Medusa tale, this is definitely a must read in this book.
Death Knell (Victoria Schwab) is beautifully written and so meaningful. Briefly put, it is about how one cannot outrun death - not the evil kind of villain, but a more deep and thoughtful tale.
The Blood of Imuriv, Renee Ahdieh's story, was extremely unique. It's a pity that it's just a short story, because I would read a full length novel on this kind of plot.
Shirley and Jim (Susan Dennard) narrates the story of a young James Moriarty where both Sherlock Holmes and John Watson are female (Shirley and Jean). An interesting version of familiar characters.
Beautiful Venom (Cindy Pon) was a complete surprise. An Asian retelling of the Medusa tale, this is definitely a must read in this book.
Death Knell (Victoria Schwab) is beautifully written and so meaningful. Briefly put, it is about how one cannot outrun death - not the evil kind of villain, but a more deep and thoughtful tale.
monarchsandmyths's review against another edition
2.0
technically a DNF because i skipped some stories because this book nearly put me in a reading slump. I enjoyed the stories by Cindy Pon, V.E. Schwab, Samantha Shannon, and Nicola Yoon. Renée Ahdieh and Adam Silvera’s were pretty good. The concept is semi-cool but the book is almost unbelievably dated 7 years later (the amount of HP references was painful, to start). some of the booktubers are published authors now, though, so that’s cool!
anastasiarozova's review against another edition
3.0
3.25/5
As antologies usually go, some stories were meh, but some were quite interesting and gripping. Took a while to read because of the different levels of my emotional involvement, but I am still glad I have this a chance. Some of the stories were amazing and I loved them.
Definitely recommend reading, maybe skip the stories you don't like, but try them all.
As antologies usually go, some stories were meh, but some were quite interesting and gripping. Took a while to read because of the different levels of my emotional involvement, but I am still glad I have this a chance. Some of the stories were amazing and I loved them.
Definitely recommend reading, maybe skip the stories you don't like, but try them all.